Tuesday September 14th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

I am getting an early start this morning because I will be up early and out working.

It is firewood season and I rented a splitter. I got a nice start on it yesterday, but I still have a lot of wood to split before I take the splitter back. I figure that I am about halfway on the oak, and there is probably almost that much basswood and maple left to split.

It doesn’t look like much but to put it in perspective, the stanchions on the right are  5′ wide and 6′ tall, and the pile goes back a ways, easily 15′.

I surprised myself a couple of times yesterday. One was that the load last week that I thought was so huge, actually was. It took 3 1/2 hours to split just that load. The other part is how much 16″ plus diameter oak I managed to stockpile early in spring. Four hours of splitting did not cover half of it.

It is a happy sore, since I appreciate both the wood and the exercise. Like I am fond of saying, firewood is the health club of the north.

It is a cold night tonight. The NWS says that we could hit upper 30s or low 40s. We have the low 40s. Tomorrow night looks a good bit colder. The NWS is looking for 32-37 and areas of frost.

The week ahead looks like it will mostly be on the cool side with highs around 60. The best chances for rain come about Wednesday night and again on Friday & Friday night. The weekend looks nice, again with a hi/lo of about 60/40ºF. Our normal hi/lo in Rhinelander is 68/46.

The fall colors are under way. A trip to Wabeno a few days ago on C found a lot of trees already starting to turn colors. Some were still drab as the green left the leaves, some were starting the color show. It is here, but still early in the show.

In addition to being a wood splitting madman this week, I have a couple of projects coming up with making the Internet go a little farther. In one case I need to shoot WiFi about 600′ between buildings. No problem. I can supposedly send it over 10 miles with the right equipment.

Likewise there are a few customers with weak cell and OTA Internet signals, and I have solutions for that. I will be out doing site surveys and getting equipment set up for that mid-week.

In critter sightings.. There was a small buck and a lot of does spotted since our last visit. They are obviously starting to play in the road a little more. Also seen along the road was a small bear, a lot of turkeys, a few squirrels, and a fair number of dove and grouse. The coyotes have been sounding off a lot this week.

Which reminds me.. we have a lot of hunting seasons opening up this weekend. Chances are that you know about that if you care. If not I will refer you to my post on it a week ago and to the WI DNR site.

The Bear Point Sno-Cruisers Snomobile Club will be having their first annual meeting at Bear Point Yacht Club this coming Saturday. You can still sign up for the club and be a first year charter member, but tick tock, year two starts Saturday.

In addition to the business of the meeting, there will be a good bit of socializing and getting reacquainted with our snowmobiling friends. It should be a good time. I know Chris is looking forward to it. The calendar is cleared. Car and health willing, we will be there.

Here are more events from Chris’s event calendar..

I recall seeing a poster that the Kolorama Kickoff was moved to the Lakewood Zoo. I will want to get verification on that.

Events coming up that probably aren’t on the list are a hayride poker run with Thorntons 10/3, a lawn mower poker run with Twin Bridge 9/21, a horse ride in Mountain 9/25, and the indoor mini-golf at the bars & resorts around the flowages area, date TBA, but it will probably be early or mid-October.

The Shindig in the Pines bluegrass festival at Pine Acres Resort is coming up soon too, watch for details.

One last note, gas prices jumped 20-30 cents a gallon in the past few days. From what I read, they had a pipeline problem in IL. No big deal until that pipeline supplies two of the major regional refineries that make our gas.

The price jump will tighten up demand temporarily while they get a grip on the situation and start making gas again. It should not be a long term hike for the pipeline issue, but it is still hurricane season, and almost time to start the change to winter blends, so all bets are off on gas prices.

That is about it for this morning. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB